Toxic Masculinity and Workout Culture - Magazine Dreams Review
Magazine Dreams, Elijah Bynum
In Elijah Bynum’s debut, Hot Summer Nights (2017), the story is narrated by a kid who doesn’t appear in the movie until the very end and townspeople share their takes directly to the camera. The 90s set Grease riff, brimming with potty mouthed teens, drug fuelled Goodfellas-esque montages and a young Timothee Chalamet seconds away from his Call Me By Your Name (2017) breakout, is the precise consequence of distributor A24 distilling their style down to a raw, glossy aesthetic. Bynum’s follow-up, Magazine Dreams (2023), six years removed from the production of Hot Summer Nights, proceeds in comparison as an aesthetically slight character study that’s purview is punctuated by a new inspiration.
Throughout Magazine Dreams, Jonathon's Majors’ Killian Maddox is on a path we quickly recognise, that of an angry, socially inept, obsessive loner from films like Taxi Driver (1976), The King of Comedy (1982), Joker(2018) and Nightcrawler (2014). Now dubbed ‘sigma males’ and commonly misunderstood by conventional film fans as reflections of true masculinity, Magazine Dreams is the latest in a system of ‘literally me’ films that seek to analyse sociological ideologies from the lens of those without a firm grasp on reality. However, what helps crystalise Magazine Dreams individuality is Majors’ physical characteristics as man of undeniable strength. Mangling six thousand calories a day for four months and body-building for six hours a day, Majors’ revealed to Sundance’s Variety, Killian Maddox resembles a man to be feared.
However, rarely is it the newfound maturity of Bynum’s camera that stresses the unique vulnerability of Majors, but Majors himself. Maddox, a bodybuilder, and his ambitions, albeit familiar for audiences acquainted with the narrative, exercises warm expressions, suggesting a unique kind of trauma. Maddox’ trauma unfolds as a puzzle, yet it is Majors’ who reveals everything audiences need to know. Every behind the shoulder POV shot implies you-aren’t-good-enough and the haunting dismissal of competition judges reflected against yellow and red hues.
Magazine Dreams exclusive disposition illustrates a specific form of isolation that is seldom advertised. Nonetheless those terminally online should notice parallels, albeit unintentional between Maddox and popular fitness influencer Brian Johnson, better known as The Liver King and his admission to steroid use in early 2023, explaining that the Liver King character was an experiment to spread a message on male mental illness; Johnson himself being a victim of insecurity. Intimate close-ups of Maddox injecting steroids and later pushing himself to exhaustion in cold workout montages suggests this same insecurity, the only remedy to be, according to Maddox, “at the top of the mountain”
Miserably, Magazine Dreams lacks the prose to stress these themes of male fragility, workout culture and trauma as it reaches a confused climax. Instead, Bynum implicates racial prejudice and sexuality as agents in Maddox’s societal downfall, opting for a finale that evades reaction, stripping Maddox of consequence; the safe choice, if you will. Perhaps, in an attempt to subvert expectations Bynum reaffirms Magazine Dreams influence, putting it firmly in its place.
Release Date: March 21st 2025 (US)
Directed by Elijah Bynum
Written by Elijah Bynum
Produced by Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy, Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman
Cast Jonathan Majors, Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, Mike O'Hearn, Harrison Page, Harriet Sansom Harris
Cinematographer: Adam Arkapaw
Distributor: Briarcliff Entertainment
Runtime: 124 minutes